Silent Screams
by Xavierra
Summary: AU. L was stuck on a case. He was eight months into it, and was getting no where. When Watari suggests getting a partner to help him out, he didn't expect the most likely candidate to still be a high school student. L/Light. Yaoi
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Silent Screams  
**Pairing: **Raito/L (Don't like it? Don't read it.)  
**Rating: **M (for later chapters.)  
**Summary:** AU. L/Raito. L was stuck on a case. He was eight months into it, and was getting no where. When Watari suggests getting a partner to help him out, he didn't expect the most likely candidate to still be a high school student.  
**Disclaimer: **-sigh- I don't own Death Note.  
**Author's Notes:** Alright so this will be a chaptered story, probably quite long. I'm not sure how long it'll take me to update. I have started chapter two though. So enjoy. )

* * *

L was stuck. It was his eighth month into the case, and he was no further than he had been in month three. He had gathered files about the things he had been able to find out so far, he could probably recite them from memory from going over them so many times. He refused to let this case be the first one that he couldn't solve. There _had _to be something he overlooked, there had to be some vital piece of information that he was skipping, but _how _was that possible?

L ordered for Watari to bring him some coffee, which the man did rather quickly. And L immediately started dropping sugar cubes into it. Once he was satisfied, he picked up the spoon, holding it between his thumb and index finger and stirred, three times clockwise, two times counterclockwise and then repeated the action. Soon he forgot that the coffee was even there for him to _drink _and just kept stirring. He mentally went over everything, seeing if there was something that he missed, _anything, _but sighed in defeat when he found nothing.

"L," L stopped stirring, looked up from his laptop as he suddenly realized that Watari hadn't left and that his coffee was now cold.

"Yes, Watari?"

"Maybe you should take a break, you'll be more likely to notice things when you're not so stressed out."

L started to chew on his thumb, contemplating actually taking a break, then he realized that even if he did try to distract himself he would only end up thinking about the case again. This was slowly driving him crazy. L sighed and murmured, "It's no use. It won't keep me from thinking about it. Why can't I figure this out? Why?"

Watari gave him a worried look, "Maybe you should get someone to help you. Like a partner or something, maybe they'll be able to pick up things that you have possibly overlooked."

L didn't like the idea. It wasn't that he didn't want help. It was the fact that L didn't really prefer company. Or at least he didn't prefer company that couldn't match up to him. If he could find someone that had his level of intellect, wasn't irritating, and had remarkable reasoning abilities 

then L would consider having a partner. He decided that he would check out the local police station first. Surely there had to be someone that was at least remotely in the range of what he was looking for. Maybe he would get lucky and actually find just the person he was looking for. L would have looked up other detectives, they were more likely to meet up to his standards than police officers. But L knew that most of the detectives were too high and mighty, and wouldn't even think twice before turning down the offer. Most like to work on their own. Something about not getting as much credit if they teamed up with someone.

"Yeah, that actually might not be a bad idea. Watari, could you take my laptop to the police station tomorrow? I want to see if there's anyone there that I would consider." Watari looked a bit astounded that L actually agreed to his suggestion.

"Of course. Would you like your coffee heated up?"

L nodded handing the cup to Watari, and then looked back towards the computer pulling up files of the police officers he would be interrogating. Once he got an idea of what he would be dealing with he started to devise a plan on how to narrow it down. If any of them passed the test he would give them, then he would consider them for his partner.

* * *

L watched his laptop screen and saw the room he was questioning the police officers in. The door opened to reveal Yagami Soichiro, L knew that he was above the other officers and hoped that he would be able to get it. Soichiro was the last person of the day, and L really hoped the saying 'best for last' would apply in this situation.

Earlier Watari had brought his laptop down to the police station. L had then explained that he was looking for someone to help him solve cases, and asked to question the people that were interested. Six of them had agreed. The others looked skeptical. L really didn't blame them, no one had ever actually seen him, and of course that wasn't the most comforting thought. Others seemed that they didn't want to leave their current job.

"You are at the scene of a murder. The evidence that is at the scene is a bloodied knife, a piece of ripped clothing, and broken glass. The victim is lying on their stomach, hands above their head, balled into fists. Which piece of evidence do you examine first?" L asked for the sixth time that day.

L looked onto the screen of his laptop where his was seeing Soichiro sitting on a chair in front of the laptop that L had Watari bring in. L noticed that he was no longer alone, but instead there was a young man at the back of the room, standing by the door, holding a paper bag. Once L had finished explaining the scenario the man had walked across the room and handed Soichiro the bag.

"Mom said that you'd be working late tonight, so she had me bring you dinner." The young man said, while handing the paper bag over Soichiro.

"Thank you, Raito."

L figured that it had to be Soichiro's son. He didn't say anything about it, and waited for the answer.

"You would examine the knife first. It's most likely that was the murderer's weapon of choice, so there may be fingerprints on it." He answered. L tried not to make a loud groan out of frustration and disappointment. That wasn't the answer he was looking for. None of them had been able to give the right answer. L hung his head, desperately trying not to make any noises that could be taken negatively. L was usually a calm person, and things like that normally wouldn't affect him, but he was eight _months _into this case, and if he was looking for help he wanted to find it quickly.

"The first thing that you should look at is the victim. Not many people die with their hands curled up into fists. Most would assume that if their hands were in fists that the victim was trying to fight them off. But if you think about it, it seems kind of illogical to fist fight someone who's coming at you with a knife. So this indicates that the victim was holding something, and you should check their hands to see if there are any remains of that item. The hands being curled up are actually a type of evidence, or at least they could be holding evidence. There's also a possibility that the victim had been holding the knife as protection and the blood on the knife is actually the murderers. Although this is more unlikely since it would be pretty moronic to leave a knife with your blood on it at the scene of the crime." L suddenly looked up, that was it! On the screen he saw a confident looking Yagami Raito. The _son _of Yagami Soichiro had been able to get it while his father was not.

"You're correct." L said, still in shock. L watched as Ratio's father turned to stare at his son.

"Of course I am." Raito said, sounding extremely smug. L decided that he liked that about the boy. One thing L could not stand was people that second-guessed themselves. "So what is this all about anyway?" L bit down on his thumb. Well it couldn't hurt to tell him.

"I was looking for a partner, this test was my way of narrowing down the possibilities, but you were the only one able to give me the answer I wanted."

"Well that's my son! He's helped us solve two cases down here." Soichiro said proudly, now that he had accepted that in a way his son had surpassed him.

"Interesting," L murmured. "Watari, please come back." L said and watched as the screen went black indicating that Watari had shut off the laptop that was at the police station.

L got up and went to find something to munch on, preferably cake. He had pretty much accepted that he wasn't going to get anywhere on the case. So instead he settled on eating until Watari came back, so L could get his opinion on the situation. L while he had been shocked that a mere boy who didn't even look like he was out of high school yet had been answer his question correctly without even taking time to blink, didn't really think much of it and got over the shock fairly quickly. L had finished his cake when Watari walked in.

"Watari, what do you think of the current situation?"

"I find it interesting that the only one to give the appropriate answer was Yagami-kun."

"Yeah," L said, and started to slightly nibble on his thumb.

"I can try to find some files on him, if you're curious."

L nodded, and Watari left. As L sat alone in the empty room he decided that he had taken a long enough break and once again opened the files and started working on the case. He looked through the files that he had long ago memorized, and then looked at the records of the victims, which he had also memorized quite a while ago. Although L didn't get far in his research because twenty minutes into it he got an e-mail from Watari.

"_I found his school records." _Was the short message from Watari and attached to the e-mail was a fail containing said records. L clicked on it and waited for it to open before reading.

L found out that Raito was 17, and as he had suspected still in high school. The boy had been at the top of his class throughout his entire life. Was junior tennis champion in middle school, but made no efforts to continue his tennis career once entering high school. If Raito was at the top of his class, then he surely had to be intelligent, and L inferred that his answer earlier wasn't just a stroke of luck.

L considered his age wondering if the teen was too young, and then dismissed the thought. After all he had obtained the title of world's greatest detective and he was only 25. He decided that he would give the boy a chance. The police station had been the first place L looked so maybe Raito being there was a sign. Except L didn't believe in such things, instead he called it a 'coincidence.' If Raito didn't turn out to be what L expected it wouldn't matter since he had more places to look, and surely not all of them could answer incorrectly. But before he even thought of going somewhere else he would have to see what Yagami Raito was actually capable of.

He would have to observe Raito for some time and see what the boy was like. He was _L _after all and couldn't just reveal himself to anyone. L began scheming. He would need ways to actually find out as much as he could, over the next few days. L wasn't a patient person, he liked to have a theory and then stick with it until it was proven or disproven. His current theory was still the same as it was five months ago. He thought that maybe he could take a day or two to plan out what he was going to do and then put his plan into action.

While he was plotting he got another e-mail from Watari and quickly opened that one and the file attached as well. It was new information on the case! L scanned it once, and then slowed down to read over it carefully and start to analyze, once again he was not able to find anything. L decided to forget about waiting a few days and he was going to start his plan right away, and then he would plan the rest in the spare time.

He quickly e-mailed Watari back with a short message that simply read:

_Please arrange it so I can go to the high school tomorrow as a student. Thank you._

* * *

**More Author's notes: **Well there you have it. The case will be explained later and such. Continue? Yes? No?  
Other chapters will be longer. I wanted to make this one longer, but I liked it ending right there.

Also, if anyone is interested in being a Beta I am looking for one. I have requirements and stuff put up in my profile. So if your interested or if you want to ask questions about the beta'ing PM me.


	2. Chapter 2

Here's chapter Two. I would've had it up sooner, but I ended up not liking it and went back and rewrote the chapter.

Thank you to Bahari for editing. :)

And thank you to everyone that reviewed the last chapter!

Enjoy.

* * *

As L walked into the high school the morning after he sent Watari the e-mail, he had a feeling that it would not be a very pleasant experience. It was a necessity, however, so L shrugged it off and stepped into his and Raito's first class of the day, English.

L was pleased to find the Raito was already in the class when he entered. He took a seat a few desks behind him and a row over, which allowed him to keep a close eye on Raito without being conspicuous. He had struggled to get into the seat in his preferred position and once he actually did his knees kept hitting the desk. Today was a day for observations; tomorrow he would be friendly and ask questions.

For the most part he class was painfully easy. L was fluent in English and he wasn't here to learn anyway so it didn't really matter. L spent more time observing Raito than actually listening to what was going on in the class, though unfortunately didn't find out much. The boy would pay attention, take notes every now and then, and occasionally the teacher would call on him to translate, which he always did perfectly. It seemed that he knew quite a bit of the language but L couldn't determine if he was completely fluent.

Most of the class went by like that, until the teacher started writing something on the board. L felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around as much as he could to look at the kid behind him.

"I can't see the board. Can you please sit down properly?" the kid asked.

"I can't," L replied without evening thinking about it.

"Why not?" the kid asked, obviously getting irritated.

"If I sit down properly my reasoning ability goes down by forty percent. Today's a day where I can't risk that." The kid stared at him disbelievingly.

"Okay, change me seats then. I'm at the back and you won't disturb anyone that way."

L shrugged and traded seats with him.

The rest of the day had gone smoothly for the most part. During one of the classes, L had taken out a candy bar and started eating it. The teacher scolded him for it, and had taken it away. L had tried to argue that it was brain food, but she looked at him like he was insane and threw away the candy. Then she had proceeded to call on him to answer the most difficult questions. Rather, they would have been difficult for any average high school student. He answered them quickly and easily, and he could tell that it got on the teacher's nerves. The thing that irritated L the most was that whenever she called on him she would yell "you there!" L couldn't remember the last he met someone so rude, or had been treated with such insolence.

Raito acted the same in all of his classes. He would come in, and talk to one or two people before class. He seemed popular enough, but didn't appear to have any close friends. L concluded that he was sociable, but didn't want anyone getting close to him. Raito would gaze off at times, staring out the window, but whenever he was asked to answer something he did so promptly and effortlessly, even if it appeared that he hadn't been paying attention the moment before. Apparently in one of the classes they had had a test the previous day. L glanced at Raito's test, trying to see what he got; he could make out a 100 at the top. All this information only confirmed that Raito was in fact at the top of his class as his school files had stated already.

L in all had a rather unproductive day; he couldn't really find much out about Raito. The few things that he did notice weren't really anything important.

He had noticed how Raito walked into a room, holding his head high and proud. When the teen spoke it always sounded polite and elegant no matter what he was saying. He noticed that the boys clothing was perfect: clean and ironed, not a single crease or wrinkle to be found. While he was observing this L wanted to get just a small stain somewhere on the boy, if only to see how the teen would react. These were all things that L had already observed, since he had seen how the boy carried himself that day at the police station. If the first day had been rather unproductive, however, perhaps the second day, where L was determined to open lines of communication with Raito Yagami, would yield more results.

* * *

The second day at the school started off the same way as day one. L came into the first class, and Raito was already there. The only thing that L did different this time was that he took a seat at the back right away. He had been done so out of a desire to remain inconspicuous since he had traded seats with the pushy kid yesterday.

In one of the classes, they got handed their tests back from the previous day. The teacher had told L that he didn't have to take it since he probably wouldn't know the material, he insisted on taking the test anyway. He looked at the paper was it was handed back to him, a perfect score. He hadn't even used this stuff in years. It was some sort of math class. L wasn't really sure what it actually was, when he got the schedule he remembered the room numbers but didn't bother with memorizing all the subjects.

At the end of class L picked up his test and left to his next class. As he walked into the room, he noted that Raito wasn't there yet and he took his usual seat at the back. Shortly after L sat down Raito came in, or at least he was trying to come in, but a small blonde girl was attached to his arm, and was saying something to Raito excitedly. L couldn't make out what she was saying, as they were speaking quietly and he was too far away to make out anything. Raito seemed a bit irritated but it was hard to tell since he kept the same friendly look while talking to her. After the girl finished, Raito whispered something and she nodded and left silently.

As Raito walked to his seat L reminded himself that the second day was for questioning. L knew that he wouldn't be able to talk to the teen during classes. He would have to get Raito to agree to come with him after school.

L walked into the final class of the day, noticing once again that Raito was not in there yet. He looked back at the doorway, and there was Raito with the blonde girl again. L wondered if it was his girlfriend. If the teen was going to be his partner, he probably wouldn't have much time for dates. Raito had once again managed to get the girl to leave. Once the teen had sat down L walked over to his desk. Raito looked up at him curiously.

"Yagami-kun, I need to come with me after school," L had never been one for small talk; he just wanted to get to the point.

Raito looked at him oddly, "What? Why? I don't even know you."

"Call me Ryuuzaki. I'll explain most things later if you come with me."

"Okay," Raito agreed rather reluctantly. L nodded and took his own seat.

When the class ended, L waited for Raito at the door. The teen quietly followed him out of the school. When they stepped outside L searched for his car, once found he went to it and opened the door to get it. He looked back at Raito who didn't look comfortable with the situation at all.

"Ryuuzaki, why can't we just talk out here?"

"It's public and people could hear us. We can stay parked with the doors unlocked until you're comfortable." Raito nodded and followed L into the car. Watari handed L a chocolate bar, and he took it happily. He had told Watari about the teacher that threw away his candy bar the previous day.

"Thank you, Watari." The man simply nodded.

"Watari?" Raito said, as if he was trying to place where he had heard the name before. L had intentionally mentioned the name only see if Raito would make the connection. "Watari, do you work for L?"

"Yes."

"Ryuuzaki, are you working for L also?"

"Something like that. Watari please keep the car parked for now."

"What does L want with me?"

"What makes you think that he wants anything?"

"You were in all of my classes, and then you just come up with me saying that you _need _me to come with you. You tell me that you work for L. So I'm assuming that this has something to do with me."

L bit into his chocolate, noticing it was strawberry filling, and he smiled a bit. Raito had figured plenty out on his own and L hardly had to say anything. The kid really was bright. L wanted to wait and see if he would figure out everything but he really didn't have much patience for it. He didn't feel like explaining everything right away, and he had yet to question the teen like he had planned to do.

So instead of waiting further, L said, "There's a murder on a Sunday afternoon. The body is found at 6:00pm. Blood's still fresh. Your suspects are the victim's husband, sister, and best friend. Husband says that he was at work. The sister says that she was walking her dog. Best friend says she was taking a bath. Who killed her?" He took yet another bite of his chocolate while he waited for Raito's answer.

"There's not enough information. You'd have to know if the husband works on Sundays, and if the sister has a dog. You also didn't say at what time you questioned them. What does this have to do with anything though?" Raito replied with the same air of confidence he'd had when answering the question at the station.

"It has to do with everything, Yagami-kun. The blonde girl today—is she your girlfriend?" L asked. Going back and forth between business related and personal questions, as they entered his mind would be faster than the typical manner of questioning.

"That doesn't explain anything. No, she's just a friend I've known her since I was four or so."

"Answer the questions, and I'll explain afterwards. There's a robbery, local store. The thief came in through the front door. He goes to the cashier and demands the money, keeping a grip on his gun, which he has yet to take out. What's his mistake?" L asked, while taking his now empty chocolate wrapper and folding it into small squares.

"Surveillance cameras, if there are any. Also the gun, he should either have it out and ready to fire or hidden, not somewhere in between it makes it easier to disarm him."

"What profession are you going to choose?"

"Police work or something like it."

"On a-"

"Wait!" Raito said cutting L off. "Ryuuzaki, you work for L. You're asking me all these questions which are similar to the one he asked at the police station. Back then he mentioned something about looking for a partner. Except I was the only one to answer correctly. So is this about the partnership L mentioned?" He said it all quickly, and cockily.

L was impressed; he'd known that that the boy would have figured it out sooner or later, but he hadn't expected it to be this early on.

"Yes," L said.

"L wants me to help him solve cases?"

L nodded, as that more or less summed it up. "Are you interested in the job? You would be compensated for your services."

"Why does he need help now? He has been able to solve everything on his own before."

"He's stuck on a case."

"And he thinks that I can help him?"

"He thinks that you might be able to."

"I'm not really all that interested," Raito said with an air of indifference. "I would rather finish school and do things on my own. But if it's only one case that he needs help on, I suppose I could try it out and see what happens."

L nodded. He preferred to work on his own anyway, and if Raito didn't want to help on any other cases he wasn't going to object. It actually worked out perfectly, not many cases actually came along that he couldn't solve on his own, so it wouldn't matter if he didn't have anyone to assist him with it. L reached between the two front seats to open the glove compartment. Finding and removing the file he was looking for, he sat back down.

"This contains a list of crimes and suspects. Figure out who's innocent and who's guilty. I will meet you after school tomorrow and see how you do on this. If you do well enough, I'll take you to meet L," he said. It was kind of odd talking about himself in third person, though at the same time it was amusing.

"Okay. What's with all these tests anyway?"

"He just wants to make sure you meet his expectations. Would you like us to drive you home?"

"Yes, thank you," Raito said, finally comfortable with being in the car with L and Watari.

They dropped Raito off at his house and said their goodbyes, then continued to the hotel L was staying at. After the partner suggestion he figured it would be best to stay at one instead of his place. He didn't want anyone knowing where he actually lived, even if Raito did seem like a good person. L had never been one to trust people easily.

"He's interesting," Watari commented as they drove away from Raito's house.

"Yes, intriguing." L murmured.

"Do you think he'll get all of them right?" Watari asked, referring to the guilty and innocent files.

"I don't doubt it a bit." L said, and he was certain that the high school student would get every one correct. He had been able to answer all of L's trick questions and even figure out what he was doing at the high school. Of course the files were somewhat harder than what L had been asking him but he knew that the teen wouldn't have any problems with it.

As L opened the door to his hotel suite he hurried to the kitchen. He had refused to eat the cafeteria food at school, and had forgotten to pack something in the morning. He quickly put on some coffee and got out a cake to dig into. He felt a bit better as he started to eat. He got out his laptop and opened up his files from the case, checking over the most recent file again.

The thing that had interested him in this case was that all of the victims were 25 and male. After the third victim was found missing L took interest in it. The third victim was a female but also at the age of 25. The other following victims were again males and 25 years of age. The file Watari sent him before he went to the high school was of a recent victim. This one also male but at the age of 18, there was no proof that this was part of the same case but it appeared to be. It seemed that the perpetrator was experimenting with the ages and gender. L wasn't quite sure why, since none of the victims had been found.

L was both glad and irritated at that. While he didn't want anyone to die, he wanted one of them to show up, so he could inspect the body. Better yet if they showed up alive then they could speak about what had happened, yet there was nothing he could do to confirm if any of the victim's were dead or alive.

* * *

L waited outside of the school for Raito. The final bell rang and the students came rushing out. Raito was somewhere near the back, avoiding the crowd. L spotted him and raised his hand high above his head and waved a bit. Raito walked over to him and frowned a bit, though it was quickly gone.

"You weren't at school today," he stated.

"There's no need for me to be there. I was there to observe you for L and ask for your help. And I had already done all that, Yagami-kun."

"Oh, I don't know why I expected you to be there," Raito said, shrugging it off.

"Did you identify the files?"

"Yeah."

"Good, let's go. Watari's waiting."

They walked the familiar path to the car. Once in the car Raito handed L the files he was carrying. L opened them; the suspect's crime and profile on the page and then in the corner in the neat script Raito had written his answers. _Guilty. Innocent. Innocent. Guilty. Innocent. Guilty. Innocent. Not enough information, cannot be decided. Innocent. Guilty._ As L had suspected, every single one was correct. He had even thrown a trick one in there and Raito hadn't been fooled by it.

"You got them all correct." L said, and Raito smiled that familiar smug smirk.

"So I get to meet L now, right?"

"Yes, we will take you to him." L said, and the car pulled out of the parking lot and started on the familiar route to the hotel. The ride was spent in silence, and L preferred it that way. It wasn't as though they had much to talk about yet anyway. They reached the hotel, and Raito gave it an odd look but didn't say anything. L unlocked the door to his suite and Raito followed him in quietly.

"Would you like some coffee, Yagami-kun?"

"Sure." L left to the kitchen to start the coffee as Raito scanned the room; looking for L. L knew that he shouldn't play with the teen like this, but it was just too amusing. He put the pot on the stove and went back to the living room.

"So where is he?"

"Who?"

"L."

L put his thumb against his lips, but didn't bite it. "I'm right here," he said and nibbled on his thumb.


	3. Chapter 3

**oOoOo**

There was an odd silence for a bit. It wasn't awkward, and it wasn't peaceful, it was just strange. L couldn't make out if Raito was shocked or not; the teen just stood in front of him, frozen, with a blank expression, and L wasn't sure what it meant.

"Excuse me?" Raito asked, having collected himself.

"I'm L," said L.

"Why didn't you mention that before?"

"I cannot just reveal myself to anyone Yagami-kun. Also, we were in a public place when we first spoke, and you hadn't met all my expectations yet." L said as if it were obvious.

"Oh," Raito murmured softly, and then another silent moment passed before Raito spoke again."Well, what's the case about?"

L sat on his couch and opened his laptop, then motioned for Raito to come over as well. He opened the files that he knew all too well, and handed the computer to Raito as he heard whistling coming from the kitchen. L quickly got the coffee ready and took it to the living room, remembering when he arrived that he'd forgotten to bring sugar cubes. He rushed back into the kitchen. When he got back to the living room again, Raito was still going through the files.

L sat down next to him, setting the sugar cubes on the table next to the coffee. He took a sugar cube out and put it on the table, then took another stacked it on top of that one. He kept stacking until he got to twelve cubes, and then carefully grabbed the bottom sugar cube between his thumb and index finger. It started to wobble a bit as he lifted it, although the tower of sugar cubes didn't fall. He got it over his coffee cup and let go of the cube, letting all of them drop into the cup. L drank, and once he put his cup down he noticed that Raito was no longer looking through the files and had put L's laptop on the table.

"What have you done so far?" Raito asked, picking up his cup.

"Background checks on each of the victims. Questioned their family, found out what they were doing before they went missing. It seems that they were chosen at random. I can't find any connection besides them being the same age. Well except for the 17-year-old. He's the only one I haven't researched, since it only just came up the other day."

"So we're going to be questioning his family also?"

"Yes, family and friends. I'll have Watari set it up."

"Erizawa Kenji," Raito mumbled the missing boy's name as if contemplating something. "Are we even sure that he's a part of this case? He's in a different age group."

"No, but it can't hurt to look into it. You'll notice that most of them have been male at the age of 25. Then there was a female also at the age of 25 and she's a part of this. I think the criminal we're looking for is experimenting, first it was the women, and now he's toying with the ages."

"How do we find out if Erizawa has anything to do with this?" Raito asked. L got up and went to his bedroom bringing back out the paper that he had left on his bedside table.

"That part is simple enough. Our murderer leaves this at the scene," L said, handing the paper to Raito. The paper was plain white printer paper; the only word printed on it was **SILENCE** in bold black letters.

"Silence? Raito murmured the word looking while observing the paper. "You have five of these," he stated. "Are all of them exactly the same?"

"Yes, all the same. They don't really help much besides telling us if the crimes are related."

"Hmm. You said that you questioned the family?"

"Yes."

"Do you have records of that?"

"I have the conversation recorded and saved on my laptop, if you wish to take a look at them, Yagami-kun."

"Yes, but not right now. I should be going, as I have cram school today. You questioned the families through your laptop?"

"Yes, why?"

"I thought it would be odd if you went there in person, when you don't show your face to anyone."

L nodded. "Oh, also. Yagami-kun, please do not reveal my identity to anyone. Still address me as Ryuuzaki in public."

Raito nodded in agreement, said a quick goodbye, and walked out of the hotel suite. L stared at the door as Raito walked out, curious as to why Raito seemed so different to him from everyone else. He shrugged off the feeling, deciding that it came from the strangeness of finding an equal to his own intelligence.

L called Watari to set up the questioning with Erizawa's family. The older man agreed, saying that he would get on it right away and promptly hung up. L put down his phone and looked down at his coffee cup. He had forgotten about it sometime during Raito's visit. Next to the cup was the paper. The word **SILENCE** seemed to stick out more from its white background, as if it were mocking him. He gave it a brief glare and then thought himself crazy for letting a piece of paper provoke a response from him.

**oOoOo**

L heard tapping against his hotel door. He opened his eyes to see that he had fallen asleep. L didn't sleep often, when he did it would sneak up on him and he would not notice until he woke up. This was one of those cases. He had been listening to the recording; talking to Raito the day before made him listen over to them again. He had done so once, but during the second time it seemed he'd dozed off. He looked at the door, and lazily went to unlock it. Raito stood before him when he opened the door.

"Yagami-kun, come in," L mumbled as he stepped aside to let Raito in. One thing he hated about sleeping was how groggy and lazy it made him when he awoke. The teen walked past him and sat down on the couch where they had been the previous day.

L closed the door, and looked at the teen. "I had been listening to the recordings before you came. Doesn't seem that there's much on them, though you may listen to them if you want. The files should still be open," he said, indicating to his laptop. Raito nodded and turned his attention to the computer.

L was about to head to the kitchen, to get something to wake him up a bit when his phone rang. _Watari, _the screen read.

"Hello?"

"L, the family of Erizawa Kenji has agreed to meet with you in about an hour."

"Fine. Thank you Watari," L said and hung up. He grabbed a bag of mixed candy before heading back to the living room, but paused in the entryway, and watched Raito for a bit. He could hear his recorded, computerized voice coming from the computer as well as the second victim's sister's voice.

"_When was the last time you saw him?" _L's computerized voice asked.

"_Day before yesterday," _came the response. L hadn't been able to find out much from that conversation. He watched as Raito listened to parts of the conversation. The teen would occasionally pause the recording as though he were analyzing it and then continue to play another part. Watching the high school student focus was oddly comforting. L sincerely hoped that Raito would be able to help him solve this case.

"Yagami-kun," L said as he opened the bag of candy.

"What is it?"

"We're going to speak with the Erizawas in an hour." L said, moving to sit next to Raito on the couch.

"Okay," Raito said before playing another part of a conversation. It was the fourth victim, Nanami Rei this time and L was questioning their roommate.

"_You didn't see Nanami leaving?" _

"_No, it's like I said. I was in my room and I heard the front door opening and closing and five minutes later I heard the same sound. Rei doesn't tell me where he's going and he's usually back fairly quickly. When I looked in his room later on, he wasn't there." _

Raito paused the recording at this part. "That's odd," he murmured.

"What?"

"He said that he heard the front door open and close. A five minute time lapse; what if Nanami had been followed home, and the door closing again was actually him being kidnapped out of the apartment?" Raito mused.

L thought that it was an interesting way of looking at it. He had also thought about the door himself after hearing the statement the first time, but as he hadn't been able to make much of it he'd quickly released the idea.

"So if that were the case he must have known the fourth victim," Raito continued. It seemed possible, but L couldn't help wondering why the victims seemed random if the perpetrator had known this one.

"No, he didn't have to know him. Remember the paper 'silence.' He seems to be obsessed with silence. He could have found a way that was silent in order to get Nanami out of the apartment, perhaps drugging him so he could be carried out of the apartment. I don't think he could have known him; the victims seem to be all too random."

Raito murmured a soft _yeah_ before going back to the recordings. L remembered that Watari had found the paper taped to the front of the building when going to question Nanami's roommate. It would make sense if he was followed home and abducted. It seemed all so simple, and L wondered how he had overlooked such a small detail.

Raito listened to the rest of the conversations, and L sat crouched next to him digging through his bag of candy. The teen didn't say anything more about the last few recordings. By the time he was done, L was halfway done with his bag and it was time to go meet with the Erizawas. Sure enough L's phone went off, signaling that Watari was waiting for them.

"Yagami-kun, Watari's waiting with the car. He should be out front," L said.

"You're not coming?"

"No, I'm staying here. Watari will hook up the laptop at their house, and I'll question them from here," L said. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered if he showed himself to someone; he could use an alias like he had done with Raito. But most people knew how he worked, and it would be odd if they went and it wasn't L questioning them. People might catch on, and L was just too paranoid to risk it.

**oOoOo**

L watched through his laptop as the living room of the Erizawa household came into focus. On the screen were two people that he assumed to be to be Erizawa's parents. Raito had already started explaining who he was and what he was doing there and L watched the scene quietly. He was about to ask his first question, the same one as always when Raito got to it before he did.

"When was the last time you saw your son?" Raito asked.

"Maybe a week ago. He said he was going to his girlfriend's house. Never came back."

"Have you talked to her?" L asked.

"We've tried, but she doesn't want to talk to us." Erizawa's mother stated and L almost groaned at the statement. Teenagers were way too stubborn, and now he would have to go and talk to her as well. He would have done so even if the parents had spoken to her, but it would have been nice to get any information sooner. Also if Erizawa had disappeared while at his girlfriend's house then the **SILENCE **sign, if there was one, wouldn't be anywhere near the victim's home. He wouldn't know if he was related to the case until he questioned the girl.

"Do you know why not?" Raito asked.

"We're not really sure. We've always got along just fine with her." The father responded. L looked up, that was odd. _If they actually got along, then why wouldn't she talk to them? Maybe she's still grieving and wants to be left alone, but it just doesn't seem right. Unless she was threatened not to say anything._

The rest of the questioning revealed nothing of importance. Before his disappearance, Erizawa appeared to be a normal and rather well liked teenager. And now L had to get Watari to arrange a meeting with the girlfriend. He watched the computer screen turn to black, signaling that the other laptop had been shut down.

**oOoOo**

L heard the soft click of his hotel room door opening. Watari was closing the door when L looked over at him.

"Where's Yagami-kun?" L asked, curious as to why the teen hadn't come back with Watari.

"He asked me to drop him off at home." L glanced at the clock. 7:00. Perhaps it was a bit late for Raito, since it was a school night. "How's he doing as your partner?" Watari asked.

"Quite well. He has some interesting theories," L said. Although it was only the second day, Raito had proved that he was more than capable of thinking on L's level.

Watari smiled softly at him before turning to leave. If L didn't know any better he would have thought that the older man was planning something, but Watari wasn't really the type to interfere.

**oOoOo**

When Raito came in on his third day, L had already been replaying the conversation with the Erizawas.

"When are we going to speak to the girlfriend?" Raito asked.

"I don't know, Yagami-kun. Watari's trying to get her to agree to meet with us, but she's refusing to talk to anyone."

"Maybe she was threatened," Raito suggested.

"I thought the same thing, but we can't be sure unless we can get her to talk." L hadn't even met the girl and he was already irritated with her. "Watari said that he went to her house, just to look around the area. Since we can assume that he disappeared somewhere around there. When he knocked on the door to see if he could inspect the house, she had answered and slammed the door when Watari mentioned the disappearance of Erizawa Kenji."

"So she won't let anyone in. What about her parents?"

"What?"

"It's simple, we find out when her parents are home, and hope that they answer the door. That way we can get in, question the parents and try to talk to her, as well as inspect the house. See if we can find the paper, so we can know if Erizawa is related to the case," Raito explained.

L nodded approvingly. That could work, and he quickly figured out the probability of the girl answering the door instead of the parents, and the odds seemed to be in their favor. He opened up his laptop to find out what the girl's parents did, their work hours, and when they were home.

**oOoOo**

Their plan had failed, rather miserably. The mother had answered the door, took one look at Watari and Raito, and said that she couldn't let them in. Apparently the girlfriend had told her mother about Watari, and claimed that he was insane and not to let him in if he came by, they didn't even get a chance to say anything before the door shut on them.

It had been a week since that incident. L thought that perhaps if Erizawa was related to the case they would have found the paper by now, but there was nothing, and since the girlfriend wasn't talking to them they couldn't be sure.

Raito had just come in, and had started to work immediately. The high school student had been doing background checks on all the victims so far. L had already done this a number of times, and he had told Raito that. The teen researched them anyway as L looked on with him, although he was already aware of the information. Raito might have a different way of looking at it, and it was better to just let the teen work his own way for the case.

Raito had only just opened up the laptop when there was a knocking on the door. "Raito! Misa knows you're in there!" the person on the other side of the door yelled.

L looked over at Raito, who was staring at the door.

"Someone followed you here?" L asked.

"Seems like it, I had no idea that she was even following me," Raito paused and thought for a moment. "I can make her go away, if you'll just play along with whatever I do when I open that door."

"All right," L agreed, confused as to what was going on, but if Raito could make this _Misa _go away, he wasn't going to argue. He didn't really want people knowing where he was staying, and they wouldn't be able to get anything done if she was there.

Raito opened the door to reveal the familiar blonde girl that L had seen with Raito at the high school.

"So this is where you've been disappearing to Raito," Misa said as she looked around the hotel suite. She walked over to L, stood in front of him, and L felt like he was being examined.

"I'm Misa, Raito's friend," she said to him. "And you must be Raito's lover!" _What? _L thought as he stared at the blonde.

"Yeah, that's Ryuuzaki," Raito said as he walked over and pulled the detective up from his crouch and slid an arm around L's waist. L was confused but he remembered that Raito told him to play along. Apparently playing along meant pretending to be a couple.

"Well then Misa should stay for a while and make sure you're right for Raito," said Misa.

"No Misa, not today. I can't stay long, and we'd like to be alone," Raito said.

"I won't stay long, it'll only be for a bit," she insisted.

L felt Raito's hair brush against his neck as the teen rested his head on L's shoulder. "Remember play along," Raito whispered into his ear so Misa wouldn't hear. Raito gently put a thumb under the detective's chin to pull the older man up to him. Raito kissed him, soft and slow. L almost pushed the teen away but the words _play along _popped into his head and he kissed back. When the familiar clicking of the door was heard, Raito pulled away and sure enough Misa was gone.

* * *

A/N: Thank you to everyone that has reviewed/favorited/alerted so far.  
And to bahari to beta'ing. I hope you're feeling well soon.

And then next chapter might take a while, I'm leaving on vacation for a few days. :)


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

L stared at the closed door of his hotel suite and then at the high school student, who had sat back down on the couch and was continuing to work on the case. It was as if the teen had completely forgotten that Misa had even been there only moments before.

L was a bit irritated. Misa knew where he was staying. It wasn't as though she knew who he really was or even why he was there. For all the blonde knew he was Ryuuzaki, Raito's '_lover' _as she had put it. L knew that he couldn't even change his location now; it would be too suspicious.

No matter how L looked at it, Misa didn't appear to be a big threat. The chances of the girl finding out that he was in fact L were slim to none. She didn't appear to be anything more than a normal girl, if not even a little dimwitted. He would just have to continue the façade that he was in a relationship with Raito and she wouldn't discover anything unusual. L wondered how many other people Raito had told this lie to.

That was what he deduced it to be, a lie. The teen had been spending a lot of time in L's suite, helping him with the case. L had noticed Raito's popularity before. People were sure to question where he was constantly disappearing to, and of course Raito couldn't tell them that he was working with L.

L didn't really mind the current situation if it kept his identity a secret. On the contrary, he was all for it; Raito was attractive if not downright _pretty. _The only problem was that L didn't really know how to act in a relationship; everything that he had had before (even if it had only been a few) had been purely physical. He wasn't completely clueless, as he had seen the way other people behaved. But it was all so sentimental and _cheesy._

Misa had wanted to stay and make sure he was right for Raito and L honestly had no idea what was right for the teen. Although they had been working together, they hadn't spoken of much besides the case. L hardly knew him and if Misa came by again he had a feeling that he wouldn't pass the test. L really wasn't all that worried about it, but if Misa figured out that it was all an act, it would be odd, and she'd ask questions. Anyone would ask questions.

L had no idea how many people Raito had told this lie to; he really didn't know how many people he would end up putting this act on for. While L wasn't a complete hermit, the thought of having to act like a couple with someone he hardly knew, in front of more people he didn't know wasn't exactly appealing.

"Misa will corner you eventually. When that happens we might have a bit of a problem," Raito said, now acknowledging what happened even though he seemed perfectly content ignoring it only moments ago.

"Does Yagami-kun think that I won't be able to meet Misa-san's expectations?"

"You don't know Misa. I don't think_ anyone _would meet her expectations." Raito looked completely serious. "I think the real problem will be when my parents want to meet you."

"When would that be?"

"I don't know, never been in a relationship that long. Originally I was planning on just finding someone for this, but Misa's already seen you. She lives in the same neighborhood and she doesn't exactly keep quiet about these things. It'd be odd to bring someone else."

L stared at the teen once again. Raito was acting perfectly calm about it, as if he expected the entire thing to go without a hitch. L found himself briefly wondering how the hell he got into such a situation. Now to add on to Misa, he might have to meet the boy's _parents? _L thought back to when he had questioned Soichiro, and suddenly felt that the man might be a bit protective of the son he was so proud of.

L didn't have anything to say, and instead retrieved a bag of chocolates. He unwrapped one as he walked back into the living room where Raito was once again intently focusing on the computer screen. L thought back to their pretend kiss, and then thought about how he had almost pushed the teen away. He had just stood there for a bit before responding. All in all he didn't believe that it was very convincing. Then something struck him.

"Yagami-kun is gay?" One of the things that L was known for besides being the world's top detective was his bluntness.

"No Ryuuzaki, I am not," Raito answered, and L thought that he saw the boy smirk for a brief moment.

"Misa-san didn't appear to find it unnatural that you have a man as a lover." He pointed out.

"That's because Misa seems to think that I'm flaming," Raito grumbled. "I really don't care about gender. I haven't really ever been attracted to anyone. All my past relationships were rather pointless, and I think that I've already mentioned that they didn't last long." He looked back at the screen, scrolling down the page, and then looked at L again. "Are you uncomfortable?"

"I do not care about Yagami-kun's preference," L replied before taking out a miniature chocolate bar from the bag and popping it into his mouth, letting it melt, instead of chewing on it. L had never thought about being with another man. He didn't really think of being with anyone at all. Though he had found himself enjoying the short kiss he and Raito shared a bit. L wondered if that said anything about him.

"I would like to visit Nanami's apartment." Raito said, keeping his attention focused on the laptop.

**oOoOo**

The car came to a halt in front of a tall building. Raito and L got out of the car, and it once again started up and drove off. L paid no attention to it, he wasn't sure where Watari got to most of the time.

After Raito had told him that he wanted to go to the apartment L had agreed and said that he would come along. It couldn't do any harm, and L didn't have any better suggestions.

The two walked inside and up three flights of stairs to come to apartment 138. Raito knocked on the door, and there was some swearing heard from inside before the door opened. A tall blonde man opened the door, L recognized him as Nanami's roommate, the man that he had questioned before.

"We're here about the disappearance of your roommate, Nanami Rei. We're just going to search the apartment," Raito explained. The man's eyes narrowed a bit but he stepped aside and let them in.

As they stepped inside, L noticed the apartment floor was covered in various objects and chaotic. L thought back to when he had spoken to the man through his computer and it had not been this cluttered back then. Although that was a day after Nanami had disappeared; Nanami must have taken care of the place.

Raito made his way through the clutter and opened the first door he came upon. This room, unlike the living room, was clean; the bed was left unmade, but it appeared that no one had been in there for quite a while. Leaving the door open he went and opened all of the other doors in the apartment, the rest relieved a once again messy floor, although they were all partially cleaner then the living room. Raito returned to the first room and went inside.

L followed, curious as to what the teen wanted to see here, but he had a feeling that Raito was trying to test his earlier theory. Raito circled the room was and came to stand next to the bed. He squatted down next to it, in a position similar to L's way of sitting. He stared at the carpet for a bit, and then peeked under the bed. Raito got up and opened the closet doors, looking at it for a moment everything was on hangers rather than shelves. He then pushed apart the two articles of clothing in the middle and looked at the back wall, and then closed the doors.

"Where did you find the silence paper?" He asked turning to L.

"His roommate said that it was left in their mailbox." Raito nodded, and exited the room.

**oOoOo**

Raito and L waited as the blond man opened his mailbox, took out his mail and then stepped to the side. Raito looked inside and L merely watched him, the man was eyeing both of them suspiciously but remained silent.

"Ryuuzaki, there's a small four, on the side here," Raito said pointing to the left side inside the mailbox. L walked over to get a better look, and sure enough there was a small four carved into the side.

Nanami was the fourth victim. L reasoned that there was a 23.7 percent chance that it was merely a coincidence. L figured that they would have to visit the other victim's homes as well to see if their theory was correct.

Raito and L politely said goodbye to Nanami's roommate, but the man murmured something, and walked back up the stairs to his apartment, not looking back at them.

**oOoOo**

"Why would they leave things behind?" Raito questioned on the way back.

"They may like playing games Yagami-kun. Perhaps they're confident that they won't get caught."

"The number is a bit irrelevant. Well this is assuming that he left numbers at the other places as well."

"It all depends if the numbers actually relate to when the victim went missing. If it doesn't, then it's something interesting." L said, and then continued "Tomorrow we'll visit the other victim's dwellings as well."

"Okay," Raito agreed as they stopped in front of his house. He got out of the car and walked up to his house. L could see a middle age woman open the door before he got to it, and she looked at the car curiously. Raito started talking to her, but L couldn't lip read well and suddenly the car drove off and they were going back to the hotel.

**oOoOo**

The next day L and Raito made it to the first and the third victim's houses. When they went to the second and fifth but no one had answered. They had decided to come back the following day and try their luck again.

At the first house, the wife had answered. They quickly explained, and then headed to the backyard. Here the piece of paper had been found on the right side from the back door. After searching for about ten minutes, they found a small number one engraved at the very far end of the house.

The third one was a bit more difficult. This time the victim's brother answered. Here the paper was found taped to a tree; it was in the backyard again. The only problem way that it had been taped pretty high up. The paper had blown down during a storm. L looked up at the tree after they looked around it, and they had not found anything. He then looked at Raito, who looked _neat _as always, and L highly doubted that the student had ever climbed a tree in his life.

"Yagami-kun, help me up," L said. Raito managed to pick L off the ground so that he could pull himself onto the first branch. As soon as L was sure he was perfectly balanced on the branch he started looking at the tree. Sighed when he didn't find anything and climbed higher up.

Fifteen minutes later, and after some rather odd ways of stretching so he could see everywhere, L found the small number three carved into the tree.

"It's here, Yagami-kun!" he yelled down and then climbed down to the lowest branch and jumped off.

By the end of the day, they had stopped by the fifth house and received no response. L asked Raito if he wanted to go get coffee, as there was a shop nearby and L was feeling deprived. He needed coffee, with a lot of sugar in it.

**oOoOo**

"I used to play tennis, and I can also play the piano." Raito said. L decided that he needed to get to know the teen, if he was supposed to be his lover and thus he was asking Raito all sorts of things about his life.

"Used to?"

"Yeah, I stopped once I got to high school. Though I was junior champion."

"So was I, in England. Why did you stop?"

"I'm not sure." Raito said, and stared down at his coffee cup as though he were wondering why he had stopped.

"What about you, Ryuuzaki? What was your childhood like?" Raito asked. L stared at him; no one had bothered to ask before. Of course L didn't know many people, but the few that he did talk to never bothered. This was a conversation that was absolutely foreign to L.

"All right," he answered. He supposed it hadn't been too bad, for an orphan. He didn't know what to add, there wasn't much to tell. Before Wammy's his life hadn't been the best. He knew that he more than likely wouldn't be the world's best detective if it weren't for the orphanage, so it wasn't something he thought much about. He hadn't thought about his life being any different than it was for a long time.

There was a silence for a while, but within the few moments the two were back into easy conversation.

**oOoOo**

Raito and L were at the third victim's house again, and were once again receiving no answer.

They quickly moved on to the fifth victim's house. Once again received no answer, except this time L figured that it didn't matter, the paper was found under a slide at a nearby park. L wondered why he hadn't remembered yesterday, but didn't dwell on the thought.

They headed to the park, and both ducked under the slide, looking for the five. L was thrown off when they found a six instead.

_Did I miss someone? _

**oOoOo**

They were in the coffee shop again, L sulking, and a bit irritated. How could he have completely gone over someone? He quickly started thinking of different possibilities. _The numbering could be wrong. Or maybe this is just a trick. Or I really did miss someone. Damn, how? I checked every missing person since the first paper I found. _

Raito, on the other hand, looked a bit panicked; he was staring at something over L's shoulder. L looked back and saw that a man had just walked in. He was about Raito's height, long dark, hair, and was bespectacled. Then the man looked right over, smiled and waved. L turned back to see Raito wave back a little.

"Hold my hand," Raito said, putting his hand on the table, palm up, as the man began walking over to their table. L didn't think twice before cupping his hand in Raito's. The teen looked a little less panicked and L didn't know what to think of it. He supposed that this guy was just another person that Raito had lied to, but the way the teen was acting it didn't seem like it. When they were with Misa, Raito had acted calm, like everything was natural.

"Hello Raito," the man said when he made it to their table.

"Hello Mikami. How are you?" Raito asked in his usual politeness.

"Fine, just getting coffee, and heading back for afternoon classes. Who's your…" Mikami trailed off, unsure what to call L. He was looking down at their intertwined hands. He then looked at L for a brief moment, and L had the feeling that he was not accepted by Mikami.

"This is my boyfriend, Ryuuzaki," Raito said, and L noticed that the teen seemed much more comfortable when he introduced him.

"Mikami Teru, nice to meet you," he said and L could tell that he wasn't pleased about meeting L at all.

"Likewise."

"Well I should be going. Goodbye Raito, Ryuuzaki-san," he said and then walked out of the shop. L looked at Raito curiously.

"Mikami. He goes to Todai. He's okay for the most part, but just a bit obsessive sometimes. Hopefully since he's met you, he'll tone it down a bit," Raito explained.

For some odd reason this explanation gave L the mental image of Mikami drawing a picture of him and Raito perched on top of a wedding cake.

**A/N: **I'm sorry this took so long, I don't even have a decent excuse for it. It's a bit shorter, but I wanted to get something posted. Oh school started up, so updates will probably slow down a bit.  
All the usual thanks to everyone!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five **

L was sulking. L wasn't usually a person who would do so, but he was. He was lost as to where he was supposed to go on the case. He was completely and utterly lost. Raito had tried to help out with some ideas, but L wasn't listening; in fact he had no idea what the teen had suggested.

L could feel that Raito was getting irritated with him but he paid no attention to it. Raito sat across the couch from L -who was picking at his strawberry cake- and was looking back through the case files, even though both of them had done so many times. But if L was going to be depressed and drown himself in cake then Raito didn't know what to do.

Watari walked into the room, looked between the two boys. He noticed L's rather depressed manner, and Raito's irritation. Watari had of course heard what had been happening with the case, what had gotten L into this state.

Raito looked at Watari for a moment and then over at L for a brief moment, lingered a bit, shrugged, and went back to the case files.

Watari looked at L, who was now just taking small dainty stabs at the cake but not eating it. The man was like a son to him, but he was going to let L figure it out for himself. Watari walked out of the suite, without saying where he was going. He usually didn't.

L was not having a good day, in fact he hadn't had a good day for the past three days, and it did not get any better when Watari opened the door to reveal a bubbly Amane Misa. Watari stepped aside to let her in, and then walked out the door. L thought it odd that Watari didn't bother to ask who she was or what she was there for.

"Raito! Misa's been looking for you. I went to your house but only Sayu was there and she said that she didn't know where you were. She was interested to hear about Ryuuzaki. I thought that you told them already," Misa had a talent for saying a lot in a short amount of time.

L had started stabbing at his cake a bit harder. He was someone that would usually remain calm, and not let much show but there were certain things that could get to him. Misa had recently become one of them. Usually, not even Misa could get to him, or at least not this easily, but he had been on edge.

"You told Sayu?" Even Raito sounded a bit irritated.

"Well, as I said I thought you already told them. When she said that you didn't know where you were I said that you were probably at your boyfriend's, and then I realized that you hadn't mentioned him," Misa explained while sitting herself down next to L, who paused, shifted a bit to put more distance between them, and them resumed stabbed at his food.

"Hey Ryuuzaki, what's wrong?" L didn't answer her; in fact he hadn't said a word all day.

"He's just a bit irritated today, Misa. Why are you here?" Raito asked calmly.

"Misa was bored, so I decided to come see what you guys were up to. And since I'm not interrupting anything, I might as well stay a while," Raito knew that Misa could be intelligent sometimes, but most times she was completely oblivious.

"I don't think that's such a good ide-" Raito began.

"Sure it is! Ryuuzaki doesn't really seem to mind." Yes, it really was one of Misa's oblivious days. "Right, Ryuuzaki?" L shrugged, still refusing to say anything.

"See?" Misa said.

L was just a really irritated detective at this point. He got up and dragged his feet across the floor and sat down next to Raito, and rested his head on the teen's shoulder. L didn't know what his motive for doing this was, but was nice, and oddly calming. Raito's had hand come up to thread his fingers in L's hair, and L felt like a kitten; a sad and lost kitten. Because that's what he was when it came to this case, sad and lost and Raito sat there, playing with his hair while he leaned into the touch made him feel like a kitten.

They stayed like this for a while, and Misa, well she rambled on about something, and L had no idea what. He was thinking about the case, he was _always _thinking about the case. Sometimes he wished that he could just take a day off and that maybe things would come to him easier then. But he couldn't, because it was not the way that his _mind _works. L doesn't stress, he's not one for stressing, but this was really getting to him.

L doesn't bother to move make to his spot after she left, instead he laid his head Raito's lap, and without even realizing that he was in fact, tired, he fell asleep.

oOoOo

When Watari returned the scene he saw L asleep (which is something he rarely sees, even though he hardly leaves L's side) on Raito's lap. The teen himself, doesn't look too bothered, and was instead looking down at the man who had fallen asleep on him, playing with his hair. Watari smiled a little bit at the scene; L really does overwork himself at times, and it was nice to see him relax a little bit.

Watari looked at the table where there was a plate of cake crumbs, since L had reduced his cake to a pile of crumbs from stabbing it so much. He picked up the plate and took it to the kitchen before he disappeared into his own room. He heard a _thud _as he closed his room door behind him. He shook his head, sure that L fell off of the couch.

"L?" he heard Raito ask, from above him.

It had been so comfortable only moments before, and now everything around him is hard, and stiff. All the detective wanted to do is go back to sleep for just a little longer, but he _couldn't _because it appears that he's on a completely different surface now.

"What is it Yagami-kun?" he asked opening his eyes, and realizing that he was on the floor. When had he fallen asleep?

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Maybe you should rest, and I'll come back tomorrow."

L couldn't disagree, he didn't know how to argue. It was pointless to keep Raito there for the rest of the day, they were obviously getting nowhere. He nodded, getting up from the floor, to walk Raito to the door.

"Get some rest, L. I think it'd make it easier for all of us. Call me if anything comes up," L nodded once again, as Raito walked out the door. For whatever reason, L didn't like Raito leaving. But of course, L being who he was, didn't pay much attention to any of this, shrugged it off, and thought nothing of it.

He walked to Watari's room and knocked on the door. "Come in," came Watari's voice.

"L, how are you feeling?"

"Frustrated," he mumbled. "If I could just get some kind of lead on the case, it'd be better."

"Mm, it'll come to you, relax a little bit. I think Yagami-kun is starting to get irritated with your behavior."

"I am rather surprised that he is putting up with me. Or that he has even dealt with me for this long."

"He seems to understand, L, it would probably be good for you to keep him as a friend after the case is over."

L didn't say anything. He didn't have time for _friends. _He didn't have time for people. He didn't have time for anything. He was always working on something, always moving somewhere; he couldn't stay anywhere long enough to truly interact with anyone. Watari knew this, yet he mentioned keeping Raito around as a friend, but L did not think anything of it. He brushed it off as Watari being concerned about him, as he usually was.

"Get some rest, L; I will wake you if anything comes up."

L hated being told to rest, he didn't like sleeping. He found it a waste of time, and tried to avoid it whenever possible. He knew that this was a time he shouldn't argue, though, and it would probably be for the best.

"Thank you, Watari," he said as he walked out of the room and into his own, laying down onto the bed and drifting off to sleep.

Another reason, L did not like sleeping was because he could never sleep peacefully. His mind never rested: he dreamt of the case, he dreamt of working on the case, he dreamt of Raito working with him.

L was not a person who could just dream of ponies, rainbows, and daisies and be content with it. He wished that he could, but it wasn't the way he worked. Even when asleep he was focused on the case. His dream had started out about the case, the papers, the files, the people, and slowly it progressed to focusing on Raito and their "relationship."

"L," he heard a voice, saying.

He rolled over and looked at Watari. "Hmm?"

"I just got a call from the police department."

"And?"

"They've found one the victims. Still alive. She's not speaking though. They said that she refuses to even let them look at her, if possible."

"What time is it?"

"It's 11:30. Call Raito, and have him go down there, tomorrow."

L nodded and lifted his cell phone, dialing Raito's number.

"Yagami-kun, one of the victims has turned up. She's alive, but refuses to speak or have anyone look at her. Can you go down to the police department tomorrow morning and see if you can get anything out of her?" L explained before the teen could even mutter a hello.

"Yes. L, that's great! If we can get her to talk, we'll be able to solve this case sooner than we thought."

"Yes, but I don't believe it will be that easy. Why would the killer just let her go like this?"

"Maybe he didn't. She could have escaped, it's more likely."

"I don't think that's it. It seems like he's very organized, and has had everything planned out for a while. I doubt that anyone would be able to get away from him, alive."

"We don't know if he's killing any of them. This is the first one to show up, and she's alive. We don't know what he's planning. For now, this victim is all we have, so let's see if she can get us anywhere."

"Yes. Stop by here before you leave tomorrow and Watari will drive you. Take my laptop with you. I'll see you tomorrow, Yagami-kun."

"Bye, L."

oOoOo

L watched Raito and the victim through his computer screen while he ate a bowl of strawberries. It was not getting anywhere. In fact, L had yet to see the victim's face. She kept her back turned to Raito and flinched anytime he got closer, so he kept his distance.

When L had heard that a victim had been found the night before, he had been delighted. It had been exactly what he needed to move forward on the case. Of course, it was never just that easy. She hadn't muttered a single word to Raito, or any noise even. She just sat there, back turned.

"Miss, can you look at me?" Raito asked, not moving closer, but trying to get her to turn around. She didn't move, she didn't answer. She just sat there.

"Miss?" She shook her head.

"You understand, that if you're willing to help me, we'll be able to arrest the perpetrator quicker, and no one else will have to go through what you went through?" A nod.

"Will you help me out then?" A shake of the head.

"Miss, can you please look at me?" She stayed still for a while, then slowly started turning on her chair, and then stopped. Sitting sideways, but moving her hair in a way that L couldn't see her face.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I just want you to help me." Raito said, trying again. She shook her head again.

Raito sighed.

"All I ask is that you look at me, just once, there's no one else here, and only L and I will be able to see you. No one else has to."

Once again, she stayed very still, and then she slowly raised her head and looked at him. On her right cheek the number five was carved in. She rested her hand on the table, on the back of it, was the number again.

She was the fifth victim. L was in shock. Who was she? He had her file around somewhere, but he couldn't remember. L wasn't sure if he was delighted or disgusted at the fives carved onto her.

"L?"

"Yes, Yagami-kun?"

"Do you have anything to say to her?"

"Can you speak to us?" he asked.

He watched her for a moment. She had turned around completely now, but lowered her head so her hair was covering her face. A drop landed on the table in front of her. She was _crying. _Shaking her head, that _no she couldn't speak to them._

"Would you like us to leave?"

No response. "Come back, Yagami-kun. It will be best if we leave her for now."

**oOoOo**

"SaraMarie James, 32 years of age, went missing over a year ago. It would appear that she would not be a part of this case, and yet the number proves that she is. But she went missing before all the others so why is she the fifth?" L asked, trying to bounce ideas off of Raito.

But Raito seemed to be focusing on something completely different.

"Why didn't she speak to us?"

"Yagami-kun, many victims are afraid to speak once they're rescued. It's not unusual, we can wait a few days and try speaking to her again. All the other victims were Japanese, but she's American and she's 32. That would make her his oldest victim."

"I know that it's not abnormal for her to be scared, I just feel like there was something else, besides her just not wanting to talk. There's something more, a different reason."

"There may be, but there is not much we can do to figure out the reason if she won't speak to us."

"She answered questions, minor questions that weren't really related to the case with shaking or nodding her head, so she's not to refusing to talk to us _completely."_

"Hmm," L said, giving up and letting Raito think out loud while he read over the woman's file. Her father lived in town. The date on the file said that he moved to Japan around the same time that SaraMarie did.

"She's number five, yet she went missing before all the others. Any theories on this, L?" If L hadn't been happy about getting somewhere in the case, he would have kicked Raito for not listening to him when he asked the same question.

"He has them numbered according to something. It's not necessarily the order they went missing in, but it's hard to tell what the numbers are based on. If we could get her to say anything, or even let her to just look at her, we might get a hint at something."

"Yes, in three days, I want to go down and speak to her again," Raito said, "Wait, how did the police department know that she was a part of this case?"

"They didn't. Watari had spoken to them, and told them to contact him about every person that showed up. He would not tell me how he knew that she was a part of the case either. He only said that when I saw her hands and face, I would know." L explained.

It had been what happened, Watari came in and told him about the victim, and after his initial shock, L asked how he knew. At this Watari gave him a small smile and told him that he would see.

"Ah."

"Yagami-kun, James-san's father lives about twenty minutes from here, we should go visit him soon. Since she won't talk, it's best to see if he can tell us anything." Raito nodded, flipping through papers of the previous victim's. The same papers the both of them had looked through too many times to count.

"Raito!" Came a yell followed by a knock at the door. A girly voice; L stared at his suite door. He knew that it wasn't Misa.

L got up to answer the door seeing as Raito didn't look like he was going to move. He opened the door and stared down at a little girl, with the same eyes as Raito. He felt arms wrap around his waist, and a chin land on his shoulder.

"Ah, Sayu. What is it?" Raito asked.

L blinked, Sayu? He remembered Misa mentioning her, she was Raito's sister, if he recalled correctly.

"Mom wants you home for dinner tonight."

"Is that all? Couldn't you have just called?"

"Your phone's off."

"No it's not." He argued, and releasing L and taking his cell phone out. "Oh, the battery's dead."

"Hmph. So, is this the guy Misa was talking about? Huh…" Sayu said, observing L, while L did the same back to the girl. Raito stood and watched the two, amused.

L and Sayu stared at each other for three minutes with blank expressions on their faces until Raito finally said "Let's go, Sayu."

Sayu looked away from L and stared at her brother, "Okay! Wait, why don't you invite Ryuuzaki over for dinner?" She suggested.

Raito looked at L, nonverbally asking him to come along. "I can't. I have a lot of work to do." L answered automatically. It wasn't a lie, but he probably could have made time to go with them. He wasn't too sure why he didn't accept the invitation.

"Give us a minute, Sayu," Raito said. The girl walked out of the suite and Raito closed the door behind her.

"Okay, so I'm going to take the copies of the files, and look through everything again. I want to see if I can find a way that SaraMarie relates to the other victims." Raito said quietly, picking him the things he wanted to take with him.

"Mhm." L muttered. Staring off at his bedroom, he was tired, genuinely tired, and he felt like he'd be able to sleep comfortably.

"L?"

"Hmm?"

"I said that you should come with us, it'd be good for my family to meet you."

"Not today, Yagami-kun. I think I want to get some rest."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye." L said, and Raito walked out of the suite. He could hear him and Sayu bickering as they walked down the hall, but he couldn't tell what it was about.

* * *

**Look! I'm not dead. I don't have an excuse for this taking so long. Well, I don't have a decent excuse. =/ But I posted something, at the very least. I know, not much between Raito and L yet, but I wanted to build up the case for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. **

**Thank you to bahari for beta'ing for me. And thank you to anyone who's still following this, has reviewed/favorited/alerted before. =] **


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